The Key
by daisiesinthepages
Summary: The Mind Stone that he has been entrusted with holds more than power. It holds knowledge of the beginning and the end and the key to oblivion. There were six singularities, and his was only one. Post-AOU. (Scarlet Vision)
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: The Mind Stone that he has been entrusted with holds more than power. It holds knowledge of the end and the key to oblivion. There were six singularities, and his was only one. Post-AOU. (Scarlet Vision)**

 **A/N: This is set after Age of Ultron, and so will have many spoilers. Read at your own risk if you haven't seen the film. It will be situated firmly in the Cinematic Universe, but flavored with the salt of the comics here and there in characterization. Until, of course, we get further into the plot, where I'll be delving into a lore somewhere within MCU, comics, and my own imagination. Well, enjoy!**

* * *

When he had first awakened, for a few days everything was new and engrossing to experience. The first time he had opened his eyes. The first time he had seen his body, _himself_. The first time he had spoken through synthesized vocal cords and lips and teeth, compared to his memories of JARVIS, mere speakers in the walls. The first time he had felt human contact.

The Vision had been born into war. There had been so little time to dwell on anything but the present while dealing with the Ultron threat. Now though, he understood just how troublesome times of quiet could be.

He stood in what had come to be the common room of the new facility, a large and otherwise unused space with windows stretching the outer wall, a motley of sofas and cushions that had suited this Avenger or that in the middle. It was a cold night, made cooler by the bare concrete floor, but that had little baring on the synthezoid. He was, of course, not human, and therefore immune to human discomforts. Perhaps that night, though, a chill would have been a welcome distraction to the images in his mind.

It seemed the longer he coexisted with the power source in his forehead the more aware of it he became. There were so many memories. Though he had expended much energy just to restrain them from overwhelming him- which they quickly would if he allowed it, he was sure- Vision knew that the Mind Stone held more history than time itself. He knew, because _it_ knew. And he wondered, _worried_ , that his associates were truly naive to have left him with such a thing.

Much like himself, the stone began with loneliness.

* * *

"Vision?"

The voice that broke through the synthezoid's reverie bore a familiar Brooklyn accent. He turned to face the team's leader with a polite nod, "Good evening, Captain."

"Closer to morning now, actually. Any reason you're still up?"

"I do not get fatigued as the others do, and hence do not need sleep."

"I know that, and I also know that it's never stopped you from taking the time to..." the blonde man paused for a moment, searching for the politically correct term, " _shut_ _off_ for the quiet hours, before."

To be perfectly honest, Vision thought he probably could have found a better phrase if he had tried harder, but understood the difficulties that some had equating him with anything other than simple machinery. He merely hummed in answer to the statement however before asking in return, "And why is it that you are also awake?"

Steve raised an eyebrow, probably trying to decide whether or not he ought to take offense to the question; if it implied that he had been lumped in with the others who tired out in comparison to the android. It was true, to a point, but the Captain wouldn't appreciate it from the rookie. In the end he shrugged it off, raising the mug that the Vision hadn't noticed before. "Paperwork. If Wanda wants to stay an Avenger, we're going to have to make sure the visa office won't kick her out of the country. I'm taking a coffee break while Nat tries to chase up some birth certificates that Hydra didn't destroy for the experiments." He sighed wearily, and planted himself in one of the recliners, the one he seemed to have claimed as Vision never saw anyone in it but him.

As awkward as the encounter felt, it seemed the Captain had issued some kind of unspoken invitation to sit with him, and so, with some hesitation, he glided an inch over the floor to the sitting area, finding a seat opposite him. "And how is that going?"

"I'm sure it will all work out fine in the end," he replied, then pinched the bridge of his nose and took a large swig of steaming black liquid. "Given her history, and her abilities, though, it's not being as simple as I would have liked it to be. Apparently even Avengers can't just adopt strays wherever they please," he finished with a shrug.

Vision wasn't quite sure what was appropriate to say to that, so after an extended silence commented, "I hope that she can remain here. It would be odd that I were, and she weren't."

He glanced up at him with a bit of surprise. "Well, as I said, I think they'll let her stay, it's just paperwork in the meantime. You were easy enough to get here as Tony's-" the Captain cut his sentence short and rubbed a hand over his cheek sheepishly.

"You mean to say as mister Stark's tech and property, I assume," he supplied, and Steve caught his eye with a grimace, not denying it. "Do not worry, Captain, I am well aware that I have no passport or social security. It is not as though it would bother me."

"I feel like I should apologize, though. I don't mean to make you feel like any less than the rest of us, Vision. You're on our team, and that makes you family."

The synthezoid smiled wanly and nodded his appreciation of the words, even if they rang a little hollow.

In the pause that followed Steve drank the last dregs in his cup, then stared at it's emptiness like it held answers that Vision didn't know the question of. "You know," the Captain started, "this is my ninth cup of coffee in about three hours, and it's still not doing anything for me. I remember back when if I drank a cup after three in the afternoon I wouldn't be able to sleep that night." He looked back up at him, with blue eyes not unlike his own in colour but so much more human. "Vision, no one's born a hero. No one has to live their life any particular way. Everyone can choose."

The android's gaze skittered away to the floor. "I have chosen."

Steve stood and gave a lopsided smile, "Good, then. Try to get some rest," he said, and gave him a pat on the shoulder as he walked past.

Vision started a little, not used to the human gestures involved in conversation yet, but found himself reassured by the simple contact, as was the purpose. "Indeed, thank you, Captain."

"Anytime, son."

The use of the phrase was not completely unheard of. Vision, when the team had met with the Bartons for lunch that one time since the Ultron debacle, had seen Steve use the word to refer to one of Clint's children- to which the archer had promptly retorted with 'get your own'. However, to the android, it felt closer to being accepted by the soldier than anything else. It felt less like he was on his own within these headquarters. And, if his visions, pardon the word, were anything to reach conclusion by, he would need all those on his side as could get.

* * *

Vision's distraction only continued to grow. After spending the remainder the night continuing his sort through the streams of new information trying to flow into his awareness, finding that the sun had risen and that training sessions wouldn't cease just because he had other things to think about was not what he would consider convenient. Despite his general lack of travel en foot, even in the everyday, no one was exempt from the rigorous exercise routine their resident super soldier had instigated. While he didn't agree with the logic of it, so far he hadn't spoken out against the arrangement. Even today, when he felt that his time would be much better used deciphering the mysteries of the Stone. He supposed, though, that having something to help him actively ignore it for a while would help settle his state of mind.

Miss Romanoff ran ahead of him, her red curls bouncing with each stride, though when Vision caught sight of them, he could only make the comparison between his other female comrade's auburn waves, and the fact that they swayed instead. It was all curious to him, he noted, glancing over his shoulder at Wanda to confirm his earlier statement, as he was without hair at all. Though she was panting heavily and trying to focus on keeping up with everyone- bar Captain America who had no qualms leaving his recruits in the dust to 'motivate' them- she noticed his gaze and managed to smile at him until he faced the track ahead of him once more. Her cheeks had been flushed with exertion, and the introduction of sunlight and outdoors to her days had brought out more of the native olive undertones to her skin, but the dark rings under her eyes made it clear that she also was not doing much sleeping, though that was no new information.

It had only been a month since her twin and closest friend had been brutally torn from her life, after all.

She was trying very hard to adapt to her new life, as he also was, but he knew that it wouldn't quench the loss in her heart. The fact that she was putting her all into the mechanics of life and waiting for her heart to catch up was admirable, in any case. It was one of the reasons, if not the only reason, that Vision did not simply run at his full capability, which, given his makeup, likely could have overtaken the Captain and neared even that of her brother. For her sake, and for Pietro's memory, he was more than content to stay within the steady pace of their group, among his friends.

 _Memorydeathsoul._

Vision stopped. His pupils dilated. The stone flashed in his forehead.

 _Soulworldfindhimsomanysouls_.

They must have noticed something was wrong, because he was being surrounded, their mouths moving and brows furrowing, but he couldn't make out their words.

 _StoptheTruthstoptheTruth._

He stumbled back a step, needing space. By this time, Steve had caught up to them again, and was questioning him. What was he saying? He couldn't hear him. He needed space to think.

 _MindSpaceTimeRealityPowerSoul_.

 _TheSouliswiththeTruth_.

 _FindHimfindhimHimhastheSoul_.

All he could see now was the image of a green gem against the backdrop of space, with the words echoing within him, over and over, " _The Key to Oblivion. The Key to Oblivion._ " He could not be sure how long the episode lasted, but when it finally ended all he could register before blacking out was his name being called in a panic.

* * *

When his body eventually flickered back to life he awoke to, not his designated room, but a bench in the lab, Steve and Natasha at his side. They seemed surprised at his sudden awakening, but the expressions on their faces made him want to swallow his nonexistent saliva. Fearing their answer, he sat up and asked, "What happened?"

"And here we were hoping you could tell _us_ that," Romanoff replied, folding her arms and leaning back in her chair. Steve shot her a frown.

"You powered off in the middle of training this morning, Vision," he explained.

"Not before acting strangely, even for you," she added. "You look fine now, though."

Although it was said as a statement, the synthezoid was aware that she was asking him if he was okay, and he appreciated it, even if the Black Widow's attitude remained the same as always. It was charming, in a way. "I... feel fine," he told them with hesitation, "but I'm not sure that everything is."

Steve's brow raised. "Do you think you've developed a fault? I'm sure Tony would come and have a look at you."

The Vision shook his head. "No, I am fine, as far as I can tell. It is this," he said, running a gentle finger over the heat of the Mind Stone. "I fear, if what it has shown me is to be believed, that our time of quiet will not be that way for long."

The Captain put up his hand to halt the conversation there while Natasha frowned at this new information. "Hold on," the man said, "you said the Stone has been _showing_ you things?"

The android nodded. "Yes, I believe so. This information has not originated from my own memories, nor any database on Earth."

He pinched the bridge of his nose, something Vision noticed him do with increasing regularity. "How long has this been happening?"

"A little over two weeks ago it began."

"And you didn't think to tell me any of this?" Steve asked, sounding hurt, as if an old wound had been reopened.

Natasha saved him from having to reply with a question of her own, " _What_ exactly has it been showing you, Vision?"

He glanced between them, noted the human emotions on their faces. Even now they wondered whether he were a Monster, Man or Machine. They always held a sliver of expectation at the back of their minds that he would become a repeat of Ultron. Not all of his comrades felt this way, but his leaders most definitely. It was their job to worry about these things, after all. His electric blue gaze fell to the floor.

And he began.

"Thor has told you some of what are called the Infinity Stones, that I possess one of the six: the Stone of the Mind. He has told you all he knows, of course, but the Mind Stone holds more knowledge of its kin than any other possibly could."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the faves, follows, and reviews, all who did so! I'm expecting this story to be around the 40k words mark, but we'll see how we go, could be longer, could be shorter. I will say this here: we _will_ have lots of Scarlet Vision, Pietro _will_ return eventually (characters die in the comics all the time! They always come back!), and I _will_ introduce a character from the comics that has only ever had a 'cameo' in film. Can you guess who? It's pretty obvious...**

* * *

By the time Steve and Natasha had run out of questions, and had realized he had told them all he knew already, it had gotten late, about ten at night. Eventually he had garnered that he had spent the entire day shut down, which Vision found unexpected, but did explain why his leaders had seemed so frazzled. He was concerned about it himself, though as he had told them before, he didn't seem to have picked up any adverse effects from the process. So, between his sudden system failure and subsequent interrogation, the day had been of little benefit to anyone. Especially as they had canceled all regular training. Especially as he had not received the desired reaction from the interrogators.

After the resident technicians had done various tests on him, checking his stability and systems as best they could, they deemed him fine to leave and return to normal routine, with the order to return to them if anything seemed off. Vision suspected that honestly they just didn't know what to do with him. Still, he did not fancy waiting around in that lab any more than he had to, so perhaps their ignorance was his blessing.

He had chosen to walk the long path through the facility to his room rather than spend the energy required to alter his molecular density in the way that allowed him to fly and pass through any objects in his path. It was just to be on the safe side, but he also found the slower journey calming after the difficult conversation he had just endured. And despite spending some thirteen hours 'asleep', the android thought that this was the closest to tired he would ever feel.

The new Avenger's facility had originally been built for specialized SHEILD agent training, bought and re-purposed by Tony Stark after the agency had all but dissolved. It wasn't going to be used until some time the next year, and was only ever supposed to be secondary to the Avengers Tower in New York, but after Ultron the world's opinions on potentially dangerous abilities and the people who wielded them were worse than ever, and the out-of-the-way building was far preferable. In that way, perhaps the confused AI had been victorious.

Regardless of the reason for the sudden shift in headquarters, the layout meant that all dorms were kept in the one wing, situated in the middle of the building, for security reasons. Unsurprisingly, the android had not seen any of his teammates on the walk, as they were probably taking the free time to either sleep or get in some entertainment, but what was surprising was the open door in the hallway. Across from and two the the left of his own; Wanda's room. Due to her reserved nature and grief, the young woman was known to spend any time not set aside for 'Avenging Activities' in the solitude of her dorm, door always shut. The light was off within, but it was likely she was inside. Sleeping? Perhaps, but she was known to have difficulty with that recently.

He approached a few steps closer, realizing that along with noticing her open door he had also ceased moving. The synthozoid did debate whether he ought to knock, and see how she was, but in the end he didn't have to. There was the familiar warmth spread lightly over his consciousness that came when the woman probed his mind, and then she was at the door, concern on her face. "You are awake," she said, her thick accent softening some sounds and sharpening others, "you were asleep a long time."

He always liked how Wanda never hesitated to apply human terms to him. The android inclined his head apologetically; when she had felt for his mind in the hallway he had likewise felt that she had been waiting for him all this time, worrying. As much as he didn't wish to cause her any further upset, he was grateful that she cared. "Yes, but all seems to be fine. It appeared to be a freak happenstance."

"That is good," she nodded, staring past him at the wall. "Do they know why it happened?"

Vision didn't answer her right away, but pursed his lips. "No, they don't know why I fell unconscious."

And it was the truth, for the most part. It _was_ still unknown why his body had shut down from of what he had seen.

* * *

While they had been questioning him about his visions from the Mind Stone, Steve had stood and turned away from where Vision sat on the bench, rubbing his jaw and undoubtedly tense. "The Soul Stone. Why does this sound like a disaster waiting to happen?"

"Steve, we don't even know where this... fifth stone is. It sounds like it's a long way out of our reach," Natasha contributed, always the rational one. "I don't see why any of this is our problem, just because we know about it."

"It said the Soul Stone was with Him," Vision had reminded them, already growing weary of the conversation.

"Well, who is he?" the Captain asked, throwing his arms up in exasperation.

The android shook his head. "Not 'he', ' _Him_ '," he corrected, "it said _Him_ had the Stone."

Running a hand down his face, Steve looked to be at the end of his rope. "Fantastic. That helps a lot."

Natasha looked at her blonde friend with sympathy, and Vision felt remorse for giving them yet another thing to worry about. In truth he was far more confused by all of this than they could ever be, having been plagued by words and images that he could hardly make head nor tail of for two weeks. And worse was the sense of importance he felt with each piece of the puzzle he discovered. This is what caused him to continue trying to make them understand.

"Captain, I believe at least part of these messages are connected to the late Maximoff. This episode seemed to be triggered by his memory, and it said to 'find him.'"

At this Natasha looked away from them, likely reflecting on how much the young man's death had hurt her best friend. Steve just shook his head, as though he could will away the problem with his denial. "Are you sure it wasn't telling you to find _Him_ , the _Him_ who has the green stone?"

And this was the point were Vision instead stared back at the floor, depleted of the motivation to try to explain something he hardly understood himself. He conceded defeat. After several minutes of silence, they seemed to understand that he had said all that he would. "Look, Vision, I'll think about everything you've told us, but for now, just put it to the back of your mind. Focus on your training, and remember that you don't have to face anything alone. From now on come to me with anything you think is important." It was as clear dismissal as any, as much as the android appreciated the thoughtful way it was worded. As he stood to leave, though, the Captain stopped him with another firm but kind hand on his shoulder. "And Vision," he began again, "until we know more about what this is all about, if it is anything at all, there's no need to worry the rest of the team. It might still be nothing." And the hand fell away. The synthezoid stared at the man with calculating eyes and a blank expression before nodding.

"Of course, Captain. I understand." And he did, he just wasn't sure he agreed wholeheartedly with the order.

* * *

"Well, if everything is okay, that is good," Wanda said again, her brows drawing together slightly. Vision could feel her again try to enter his mind, trying to see if he was hiding anything from her, but with a mind as strong as his, he was able to shut her out of all but the surface thoughts. The hurt that flickered across her face made him uncomfortable, but the Captain had told him that now just wasn't the right time. And he just couldn't risk allowing her to know what he had seen if it had anything at all to do with her brother. Not until he was sure. He couldn't do that to her; it would be like losing him a second time if he were wrong. In the meantime, he would have to shut her out.

"You ought to get some rest, Wanda," he said gently, apologies at the corners of his eyes.

Her deep brown eyes met his for the first time in their conversation, though they seemed colder than Vision had seen them since she had first met him and worried that he carried the same intent as his robotic creator. "There is no rest for me," she murmured, and turned away to retreat back into her room. "Good night, Vision." And the door closed behind her.

The android stared at it for some time with regret he thought he shouldn't be able to feel. "And you, too, Wanda." But it was unlikely that either of them would sleep that night either, because if the Mind Stone held any secrets that could release Pietro from death, and Wanda from grief, he would learn them. And though there was no trace of her presence in his thoughts, he made this silent promise to her, because she had given him more than she would ever know, and she deserved to have someone on her side, even if she wasn't aware of it.


End file.
